Masculine or Feminine (or neuter)?

[GypsyTom]

I'm corresponding with a very nice and extremely intelligent man, whose high-power job has sent him to Germany. He and his wife have a blog and, as he has the same Hobby 'van that I've just bought, he's been a great help answering some questions.

Throughout our emails he refers to his 'van as 'she'. In the 'Thieving Scum' thread, the poster refers to her 'van as 'he'.

Fascinating! I refer to mine as 'it' as 'it' is a lump of metal, albeit a beautiful one, that will give me years of pleasure.

I'm well known amongst my chums for letting cold logic override any sentimental nonsense. I believe that waving for instance is a pointless anachronism (but let's not go there!

Do others give their motorhomes a sex, and what is it?

[euroserv]

Thanks for the valuable insight into your inner psyche, Tom.

 

Nick

[GypsyTom]

euroserv - 2010-03-18 10:49 AMThanks for the valuable insight into your inner psyche, Tom.Nick

My pleasure! I hope that you found it illuminating!

I am now off to sort out a couple of things regarding 'it'!

[Madmaggott]

I'm with you Tom; I refer to our van as 'it' whereas my hubby refers to it as 'she'!  Some friends of ours however have named their van and always refer to it by name!

Re waving:  I don't, he does.  Can't see the point really; just distracts the driver when they should be looking at the road rather than peering to see if the other driver waves back!

 

[The Decorator]

Its just referred to as the bus. As long as it goes that's my only concern. When it refuses it will be ditched.

[Usinmyknaus]

To my wife and I the van is "The Bus" but when it's just the van and me the bus becomes "Helga" a name inspired by German Uniform over French underwear (think: "Alo Alo" - Knaus bits on Renault, geddit).

 

I have always seen female character in my transport machines. The aircraft I fly is greeted with a genial "Hello girl" and an affectionate pat on her shapely tailplane and my cars treated similarly. Sad, maybe, but ultimately harmless and touch wood, none of the current four metal mistresses have let me down yet.

 

Bob :-)

[peterjl]

Hi

 

My grandad, a mechanic of the old school, taught me that all vehicles are "she" cos if you shower tender loving care on them they will look after you but if you ignore them you get grief.

 

Peter

[J9withdogs]

Well, mine's named 'Shirley' (she's a Holdsworth Valentine) so most definitely a 'she'.

[Mel B]

Wasn't John Wayne's name Shirley???? And Big Daddy the wrestler??? :-D

 

On the whole we don't name our vans now, but we used to. Our first one a Commer Autosleeper had the registration MMJ so he became Marmajuke (yes I know it's not spelt that way really!), then our converted ambulance became Eeyore ... ie from the noise he used to make in his previous life, nothing to do with donkeys! :$ Our Elddis and Swift vans weren't named - actually the Swift was often called certain names, but they were not affectionate! >:-)

 

Our Rapido 709F, although referred to as 'he', never had a name ... but he was soooooooooooooo cute!!!!! :D Our current van is just the 'van' or it, not sure what the new one will be. :-S

[RoyH]

Surely this thread should be in Chatterbox and not Motorhome matters AND, according this http://www.telegraph...ogists-say.html load of garbage and waste of our money, you are being sexist by putting masculine before feminine.

 

What we are expected to do about it beats me

[Mel B]

Hi Roy

 

I beg to differ, the thread is specifically related to motorhomes, therefore IMV it can legitimately stay in the motorhomes section, if it were about "what I call my scooter" on the other hand, then I would accept it should be in chatterbox. :-S

 

If you want though, I'll beat you ..... :D ;-)

[GypsyTom]

RoyH - 2010-03-18 7:01 PMSurely this thread should be in Chatterbox and not Motorhome matters AND, according this http://www.telegraph...ogists-say.html load of garbage and waste of our money, you are being sexist by putting masculine before feminine. What we are expected to do about it beats me

I think that 'Motorhome Matters' is acceptable for this thread as it is about motorhomes and their value and worth to people, who show that by naming them or giving them a personality.

It's not for me but if some enjoy it and prefer it good luck to them.

It about Motorhomes and how they matter to you, so 'Motorhome Matters' seems appropriate.

[davenewellhome]

All of our campers have been given male names, firs up was a 1979 Bedofrd CF called "Oz", named after Jimmy Nail's character in Auf wiedersehen pat because it was pig ugly, always thirsty and often broke. Next came "Uriah (the heap)" another CF, not as bad for rust and much more relialbe but still not a pretty van. Then there was "Freddie" the Freight Rover, so named because it had an ancestry directly traceable to Fred Flintstone's car. The next one was called simply "DT", short for Dick Turpin as it was a highwayman. Present van is known simply as "Eclipse" but prior to naming it officially it was generally referred to as "the van" or "the Iveco". We also have two Ford Focus cars, wife's is known as "Frodo" and mine is known as............actually I can't say on here as its a rather rude name.

 

D.

[Rayjsj]

Ours is definately feminine, The Duchess, moves along in a stately manner and most certainly Cannot be hurried. Impeccable breeding (Talisman out of Autosleeper) and lovely manners. Only the Black sheep of the Family (most families have at least one) Talbot....that scoundrel from Sevel (Seville??) muddies the perfect match. Ah well, back to the real world.

Ray *-)

[spospe]

The German word for a motorcaravan / motorhome is "Die Wohnmobil", which as can be seen from the use of "Die" as the article, is a feminine term.

[GypsyTom]

spospe - 2010-03-18 10:14 PMThe German word for a motorcaravan / motorhome is "Die Wohnmobil", which as can be seen from the use of "Die" as the article, is a feminine term.

That decides it! We don't have gender defined nouns in English and we didn't win the war to be told what to call our motorhomes.

If the Germans' motorhomes are feminine then mine is definitely masculine.

I shall now have to think of a good name, maybe Britvannia?

[nanou052]

Hello every one, and sorry to butt in, but I can contribute an extra tidbit of general knowledge on the subject since I'm French. So here goes : a campervan in French is "un camping-car", and so, masculine. So there :-D

When you win "who wants to be a millionaire" thanks to this remember me.

:D

 

We only recently got our first camper, and in my French mind it's a he.

[The Decorator]

My friend referred to our le Randonneur as le Frog!

 

Its that time of year when they're everywhere, frogs that is.

 

 

[magbrin]

So ours is SiD (Reg SD) but has always been "it". Other contibuters have ruled out both maculine and feminine because that is what they are in other countries, so we will certainly stick to "it" whatever others do (lol)

[Tony Jones]

Most of our vehicles have been female, but our last van was male. "Hannibal" earned his name by crossing the Alps in 2003, when he was already getting on a bit!

 

And Mel, John Wayne was called Marion, not Shirley!

[Mel B]

Of course he was ... doh! But wasn't there another famous 'male' Shirley ... who am I mixing him up with???? :-S

[J9withdogs]

Shirley Crabtree was Big Daddy, so you were right Mel (lol)

[lumpy]

mines called Lumpy, could be either,l just don,t tell the wife

[Mel B]

I take it she doesn't read the forum then? :->

[Porky]

Being in Spain I have only just come across this one. When we bought our van new in May 2009 some close friends asked what sort of van it was and what did it look like, and I said well it is A Tracker and not exactly pretty. The wife said well it should be called Shrek the Trek. So it stuck*-)

 

Roy Fuller